How a Trump presidency could lead to a purge at the Pentagon

During his campaign for re-election, Donald Trump vowed to purge the military of so-called "woke" generals. Now that he is president-elect, the question in the halls of the Pentagon is whether he would go much further.

Trump is expected to have a far darker view of his military leaders in his second term, after facing Pentagon resistance over everything from his skepticism toward NATO to his readiness to deploy troops to quell protests on U.S. streets.

Trump's former U.S. generals and defense secretaries are among his fiercest critics, some branding him a fascist and declaring him unfit for office. Angered, Trump has suggested that his former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, could be executed for treason.

Current and former U.S. officials say Trump will prioritize loyalty in his second term and root out military officers and career civil servants he perceives to be disloyal.

"He will destroy the Department of Defense, frankly. He will go in and he will dismiss generals who stand up for the Constitution," said Jack Reed, the Democrat who leads the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Charles Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, delivers remarks during the Department of Defense 2024 National POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington, U.S., September 20, 2024Reuters

Culture war issues could be one trigger for firings. Trump was asked by Fox News in June whether he would fire generals described as "woke," a term for those focused on racial and social justice but which is used by conservatives to disparage progressive policies.

"I would fire them. You can't have (a) woke military," Trump said.

Some current and former officials fear Trump's team could target the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, a widely respected former fighter pilot and military commander who steers clear of politics.

The four-star general, who is Black, issued a video message about discrimination in the ranks in the days after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, and has been a voice in favor of diversity in the U.S. military.

Asked for comment, Brown's spokesperson, Navy Captain Jereal Dorsey, said: "The chairman along with all of the service members in our armed forces remain focused on the security and defense of our nation and will continue to do so, ensuring a smooth transition to the new administration of President-elect Trump."

Trump's vice president-elect, J.D. Vance, voted as a senator last year against confirming Brown to become the top U.S. military officer, and has been a critic of perceived resistance to Trump's orders within the Pentagon.

"If the people in your own government aren't obeying you, you have got to get rid of them and replace them with people who are responsive to what the president's trying to do," Vance said in an interview with Tucker Carlson before the election.

During the campaign, Trump pledged to restore the name of a Confederate general to a major U.S. military base, reversing a change made after Floyd's killing.

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Trump's strongest anti-woke messaging during the campaign took aim at transgender troops. Trump has previously banned transgender service members and posted a campaign ad, on X portraying them as weak, with the vow that "WE WILL NOT HAVE A WOKE MILITARY!"

The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

'Lawful orders'

Trump has suggested the U.S. military could play an important role in many of his policy priorities, from tapping National Guard and possibly active-duty troops to help carry out a mass deportation of undocumented immigrants to even deploying them to address domestic unrest.

Such proposals alarm military experts, who say deploying the military on American streets could not only violate laws but turn much of the American population against the still widely respected U.S. armed forces.

In a message to the forces after Trump's election win, outgoing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged the results of the election and stressed the military would obey "all lawful orders" from its civilian leaders.

But some experts caution that Trump has wide latitude to interpret the law and U.S. troops cannot disobey legal orders they consider to be morally wrong.

"There is a widespread public misperception that the military can choose not to obey immoral orders. And that's actually not true," said Kori Schake of the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

Schake warned that a second Trump term could see high-level firings as he pushes ahead with controversial policies.

"I think there will be an enormous chaos premium in a second Trump term, both because of the policies he will attempt to enact and the people he will put in place to enact them in terms of appointments," she said.

One U.S. military official downplayed such concerns, saying on condition of anonymity that creating chaos within the U.S. military's chain of command would create political backlash and be unnecessary for Trump to accomplish his goals.

"What these guys will find out is that military officers are generally focused on warfighting and not politics," the military official said.

"I feel they'll be satisfied of that - or at least they should be."

Hollow out civilian ranks?

Career civil servants at the Pentagon could be subjected to loyalty tests, current and former officials say. Trump allies have publicly embraced using executive orders and rule changes to replace thousands of civil servants with conservative allies.

A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters there was increasing concern within the Pentagon that Trump would purge career civilian employees from the department.

"I'm deeply concerned about their ranks," the official said, adding that several colleagues had expressed concern about the future of their jobs.

Career civil servants are among the nearly 950,000 non-uniformed employees who work within the U.S. military and in many cases have years of specialized experience.

Trump vowed during the campaign to give himself the power to gut the federal workforce across the government.

During his first administration, some of Trump's controversial suggestions to advisers, such as potentially firing missiles into Mexico to destroy drug labs, never became policy in part because of pushback from officials at the Pentagon.

"This will be 2016 on steroids and the fear is that he will hollow out the ranks and expertise in a way that will do irreparable damage to the Pentagon," the official said.